


About Time

by Elvendork



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Post Reichenbach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 13:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvendork/pseuds/Elvendork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John's reaction to Sherlock's return is not quite what either of them expected. After all, there is a part of him that always knew it couldn't have happened like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	About Time

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Reichenbach. I know, it's one of many. I just couldn't resist any longer. Originally it was going to be full-length, then I decided on a drabble - and eventually settled on a 221B.

It wasn’t a gun. It wasn’t a knife, a bomb or a pill. It wasn’t a push. It wasn’t even a _fall_. 

It was a jump. It was deliberate, and that more than anything is what John can’t process. 

If it’s denial he doesn’t care; if it’s unhealthy then that’s his problem and no one else’s.

He knows Sherlock. He _knew_ Sherlock. 

No, damnit; he knows him. He still knows him, because Sherlock can’t be dead. Sherlock had – _has_ – far too much energy, too much life, for – for _that_.

There’s an old man. A white beard, a flat cap pulled low; a hunched back and a stack of books which tumble from his arms as John stumbles clumsily into him. Muttering apologies, John moves to retrieve them at the same time as the old man, who glances automatically upwards.

His eyes meet John’s.

There’s relief, and disbelief, because John had started to wonder if it was denial after all. There’s anger, hope and fear. He doubts himself for a moment, and he freezes. His throat closes up and his legs go weak; he feels dizzy, his vision blurs and the ground tilts sickeningly beneath him. 

When it rights itself, everything is clearer than it has been for three years.

John straightens up. 

‘About time too,’ he says, handing Sherlock his books.


End file.
